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US men, women take 100m relay golds

China's Liu Xiang displays his gold medal during the medal ceremony for the men's 110m hurdles during the World Athletics Championships in Osaka, Japan, yesterday. PHOTO: AP

Tyson Gay joined an exclusive club yesterday by becoming only the third man ever to win three gold medals at a single world championships, overshadowing Meseret Defar's 5,000m victory.

The unstoppable 25-year-old US sprinter beat fatigue to run the third leg and drive his team to the 4x100m relay title in 37.78 seconds, giving him a trio of golds following victories in the 100m and 200m.

Only fellow Americans Carl Lewis (1983 and 1987) and Maurice Greene (1999) have achieved the feat before.

Darvis Patton got them off to a flying start with Wallace Spearmon running second and Leroy Dixon powering them home ahead of Jamaica and Britain.

The US women -- Lauryn Williams, Allyson Felix, Mikele Barber and Torri Edwards -- matched the exploits of the men, storming across the line in 41.98 seconds in their relay.

Once again, Jamaica came second with Belgium third.

Ethiopia's world 5,000m record holder Defar also timed her sprint perfectly, kicking away with 200m left to cross the line in a slow 14 minutes 57.91 seconds ahead of Kenya's Vivian Cheruiyot in 14 minutes 58.50 seconds.

Torri Edwards, left, Mikele Barber, second left, Lauryn Williams, second right, and Allyson Felix of the US celebrate after the women's 4x100m relay final at the World Athletics Championships in Osaka, Japan, yesterday. The USA won ahead of Jamaica and Belgium. PHOTO: AFP

Another Kenyan, Priscah Jepleting Cherono, was third.

Olympic champion Defar went into the race as overwhelming favorite after teammate and defending champion Tirunesh Dibaba opted not to run after winning a draining 10,000m.

"Finally I'm the world champion. My tactics were to wait until the last two laps and then start my finish," Defar said. "I am the champion and that's great. In Beijing [Olympics] I will run the 5,000m and maybe in future I will try the 10,000m."

Czech Roman Sebrle became the first man since British great Daley Thompson to simultaneously hold the Olympic, European and world decathlon titles.

The 32-year-old world record holder came roaring back in the final two events -- javelin and 1,500m -- to overhaul Jamaica's Maurice Smith and take gold with 8,676 points.

Smith had to settle for silver with 8,644 points followed by Dmitriy Karpov of Kazakhstan on 8,586 points.

Earlier, the world's top 50km race walker Nathan Deakes dominated to add to his glittering collection, breaking down in tears as he crossed the finishing line in three hours, 43 minutes and 53 seconds.

France's Yohan Diniz was second in 3 hours, 44 minutes and 22 seconds with Italian Alex Schwazer timing 3 hours, 44 minutes and 38 seconds for his second consecutive world bronze medal.

"It's a great feeling, records are to be broken, but nobody can take the world champion title away from you," said an emotional Deakes. "I will remember forever the feeling when I came into the stadium and it was clear I'm the champion. It was quite emotional. I think it was my 10th 50km, so great jubilation."

Deakes led from 35km to clock his best time this season, although it was outside his world record of 3 hours, 36 minutes and 4 seconds.

In the women's 4x400m relay heats, the US qualified for the final fastest in 3 minutes, 23.37 seconds, with Russia second and Belarus third.

The US men, who were missing 400m winner Jeremy Wariner and silver medalist LaShawn Merrit who were resting, won their heat but were only fifth fastest overall.

The Bahamas quartet was quickest followed by Jamaica.
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